Missouri Valley (Normal IL) - Top seed Illinois St eliminated Evansville 5-3, and 2-seed Wichita St handed 6-seed Indiana St its first loss 5-0 behind Kris Gardner's complete game shutout (7 H, 0 BB, 3 Ks). It's just his 3rd win in 9 decisions. They played a loser's bracket rematch this afternoon, and the Shockers prevailed again 5-4 with all their runs coming in the bottom of the 6th. The Sycamores left 12 runners on base. Wichita moves on to face the unbeaten Redbirds for the championship tomorrow at 8 pm.
MAC (Avon OH) - A lot of catching up after yesterday's rain. 5-seed Miami OH edged 8-seed Central Michigan 6-5 in 10 innings, eliminating the Chippewas. Following a Chad Sedio lead-off single and stolen base, a bunt moved him to 3rd before a Nate Bowles pinch-hit single drove him in with the winner. 4-seed Ball St beat top seed Kent St 3-1 with T.J. Weir going the distance (9 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks). And 6-seed Bowling Green remained unbeaten, knocking off 7-seed Toledo 4-3. Mike Frank tossed a complete game (9 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks), and the Falcons scored the unearned winning run on an error by Rockets SS Nate Langhals with 2 out in the bottom of the 8th. Kent & Miami are now in a loser's bracket match with the Golden Flashes up 7-0 in the 6th. Later on it's Buffalo & Toledo in another elimination game.
Mountain West (Fresno CA) - Fresno eliminated 5-seed Air Force, leaving just the top 4 seeds in play. The 4-seed Bulldogs are underway again vs 3-seed San Diego St, and later it'll be top seed New Mexico vs 2-seed UNLV.
Ohio Valley (Jackson TN) - 6-seed SE Missouri bounced 3-seed Belmont from the brackets today, 2-1. The Bruins averted a shutout with a run in the 9th, but their rally fell short as they stranded the tying & lead runners on. The Redhawks were later eliminated themselves, dropping a 12-9 slugfest to 5-seed Eastern Kentucky. Each side tallied 18 hits, but SEMSU stranded 13 to the Colonels' 6. EKU had a 9-0 lead through 4 innings. The Redhawks & Bruins join 4-seed Jacksonville (AL) State on the sidelines, leaving EKU, 1-seed Tennessee Tech, and 2-seed & #26-ranked Austin Peay to contend for the crown. The unbeaten Golden Eagles and Governors square off tonight at 8 pm.
Southland (Sugar Land TX) - An eyebrow-raising start to the day as the top two seeds get sent home while both are held to a single run. 7 -seed Central Arkansas blew out 2-seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 8-1. It was scoreless until the top of the 7th, when the Bears scored all 8 of their runs, knocking out starter Matt Danton and cycling through 3 relievers. They sent 11 men to the plate, with the big blow a grand slam by 5'8" OF Jonathan Davis. Bryce Biggerstaff went the distance for the win (9 IP, 0 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks). In the next game, 5-seed Lamar dispatched top seed Sam Houston State, 3-1. This one was all about Jonathan Dziedzic, as he spun a 1-hitter marred by an unearned run (9 IP, 2 BB, 5 Ks). The Cardinals also benefited from 4 SHSU errors.
UCA is back in action against 3-seed Oral Roberts. The Titans had a 4-0 lead until the bottom of the 5th when the Bears put up a 3-spot. They added single runs in the 6th & 7th to take a 5-4 lead, but ORU just tied it in the top of the 8th on a Joey Migliaccio RBI single. Later on Lamar will also play its second game of the day, taking on 4-seed SE Louisiana at ~8:30 pm.